Regarded as one of the toughest road trips in the competition, the 14-point win over the Eagles at Patersons Stadium - in the face of a high turnover rate and scrappy play across the ground - is a testament to the Power's ability to tough it out over four quarters, according to the Port Adelaide senior coach.
"This a really hard game to come over and win and we were a brave club that wanted to challenge it right to the end," Hinkley said after the game.
"We didn't have our best, cleanest day, I'm sure of that and I'm sure Adam [Simpson] would say the same - it was a tough game of footy.
"We say we run all day, West Coast defended us really well but we were still trying to run and take every opportunity to run and in the end, as we've said plenty of times, it's a four-quarter game and you need to keep going from start to stop and turn your chances into something.
"We were able to do that right until the end."
Port Adelaide struggled with turnovers inside its attacking arc, with the usually creative forward attack of Jay Schulz, Justin Westhoff, Robbie Gray and Chad Wingard struggling to make the most of the club's forward entries, thanks largely to the defensive pressure applied by the Eagles.
"It was our finish going inside 50 that wasn't as good as it has been this year," Hinkley explained.
"It was a pretty dominant last quarter, again we just didn't hit the scoreboard the way we'd like to, but again we give credit to West Coast's defence."
The Power's ability to constantly pump the ball into attack helped it to pull away in the final quarter, despite trailing across most key statistical areas at the close of play.
It's a facet of the game that will need to improve against top-two side Geelong at Adelaide Oval next week, but Hinkley emphasised the importance of performing in every game, not singling out blockbuster matches against strong teams like the Cats.
"It's AFL football, it's a national competition, you've got to play well every week; if you don't, you'll get in trouble" Hinkley said.
"I don't ever want to run the risk taking our eyes off the ball and saying 'this game is going to say we're OK' - it's not any single game, it's every game.
"We're just trying to improve.
"For us, the important thing for us next week is that it's at Adelaide Oval, and it's really important we get all our members there and fill the place up, and make it a really hostile environment as possible for Geelong on the other side of the fence, and we do the same thing on the inside of the fence.
"We have no doubt of the quality of the team that will come over to face us."
Port Adelaide hosts Geelong in ANZAC Round on Sunday 27 April at the Adelaide Oval at 4:10pm.
